Managing Board and Executive Committee
The Executive Committee was installed to enable faster strategic alignment and operational execution by increasing our focus on the development of our business, innovation and people.
The Executive Committee comprises the Managing Board members as well as five senior executives with responsibility respectively for DSM Nutritional Products (Chris Goppelsroeder), DSM Food Specialties and Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions (Philip Eykerman), the Materials cluster (Helen Mets as of 15 February 2020), the DSM Innovation Center (Patricia Malarkey), and Group People & Organization (Judith Wiese until 1 September 2020 and as of 1 September 2020 Cristina Monteiro). The latter senior executives are appointed by the Co-CEOs after consultation with the Supervisory Board. The Executive Committee focuses on topics such as our company’s overall strategy and direction, review of business results, functional and regional strategies, budget-setting, and people and organization. The statutory responsibilities of the Managing Board remain unchanged.
The Managing Board is ultimately responsible for our company’s strategy, portfolio management, the deployment of human capital and financial capital resources, the risk management system, financial performance, and performance in the area of sustainability. The Managing Board is thus also accountable to the Supervisory Board for our strategy and management. Notwithstanding that accountability, the full Executive Committee attends the Supervisory Board meetings.
The Managing Board consists of two or more members, to be determined by the Supervisory Board. The Managing Board currently consists of Co-CEOs Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze, more details can be found in Supervisory Board and Managing Board Royal DSM. Since the introduction of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code in 2004, members of the Managing Board have been appointed for a period of four years.
The members of the Managing Board are collectively responsible for the management of DSM. In addition to this collective responsibility, Managing Board members have individual responsibility for certain tasks, business clusters, functional areas and regions. The distribution of these tasks is published on the company website.
As of 15 February 2020, Feike Sijbesma handed over his responsibilities as CEO of DSM to Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze in a dual leadership as Co-CEOs.
The remuneration of Managing Board members is determined by the Supervisory Board based on the remuneration policy approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders. The remuneration policy for the Managing Board can be found on the company website.
The functioning of and decision-making within the Managing Board and the Executive Committee are governed by the Regulations of the Managing Board, which are in accordance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code and can be found on the company website.
In 2020, the Managing Board and Executive Committee had 51 formal meetings, due to the COVID-19 restrictions most of these were held virtually. No Managing Board member had to be excused from meetings during the year. One Executive Committee member was excused once on account of another commitment and in this case the Executive Committee member gave advance input. The Executive Committee and Managing Board take the time for an evaluation at the end of every meeting they have. This evaluation can be about topics that have been discussed during that meeting, but may also reflect on meeting dynamics and individual or collective performance. Once a year, the Executive Committee and Managing Board take the time to get together and discuss their performance as a team.
